Nail or tack holding and setting hammer



(No Model.

J. H. DRILLER. NAIL OR TACK HOLDING AND SETTING HAMMER.

No. 595,015. Patented Dec. '7, 1897.-

messes Cg 3w UNiTnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. DRILLER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

NAIL OR TACK HOLDING AND SETTING HAMMER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,015, dated December '7, 1897. Application filed July 26,1897- Serlal No. 646,036. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. DRILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Nail or Tack Holding and Setting Hammer, of which the following is a specification.

One particular object of my invention is to provide means whereby a carpenter may hold a timber or piece of lumber in position with one hand and may set and drive a nail with the other hand without letting go of the timber.

A particular object of my invention is to provide a device of this kind which may be applied. by any mechanic to an ordinary hammer and will be adapted not only for holding and setting nails, but for picking them from a floor, board, or other piece of timber Without necessity of using both hands for this purpose. It is especially desirable that a device of this kind be extremely cheap and simple and yet not be liable to breakage or to get out of repair under the rough usage to which hammers are usually subjected.

My invention consists in a nail and tack holding and setting hammer comprising a hammer-head provided at its side with a slanting face which slopes toward the eye of the hammer-head, a sheet of spring metal having one edge extending over the sloping face and having a slot extending from such edge inward beyond the sloping face and over the face of the side of the hammer-head and over a portion of the flat face of the side of the hammer-head to receive the body of the nail, one end of said plate being fastened to the plain face of the hammer-head at one side of said slanting face and the other end of said plate being held in place by a suitable guide at the other side of said slanting face. The alteration which is thus required for applying my invention to a hammer is very slight, simply requiring the filing of a recess into the corner of the hammer-head and the drilling of two holes for pins, one of which fastens one end of the plate to the hammer-head and the other one serves the purpose of the guide,

the plate being slotted at one end to straddle the guide and being perforated at the other end, so that the fastening-pin can be inserted therethrough into the hole in the hammerhead provided therefor.

My invention embraces the various features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully set forth and' claimed.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a fragmental perspective side elevation of a hammer provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a like view of the same, showing the hammer in position ready to pick up a nail. Fig. 3 is a sectional View on line 3 3, Fig. 2, showing the construction of the device. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line i 4:, Fig. 2.

In the drawings, A represents the hammer head or body, which is provided at one point with a slanting or inclined face a, which extends but a short distance from the edge of the body.

B is my improved picking and holding device, which is formed of a sheet of springsteel or other suitable metal, which by any common mechanic may be secured to the hammer-body by means of a pin 1) passing through one end of the steel plate and tightly fitted into an opening a, which may be drilled or otherwise provided in the hammer-body.

The other end of the plate is provided with a slot (7, and a stud b passes through the slot and into an opening a, provided in the harm mer-body. The head of the stud is arranged to allow the plate 13 to spring outward away from the hammer-body and allow the nailhead to enter between the plate and the hammer-body.

The plate 13 is provided with a slot B, which is arranged above the slantingface upon the hammer-head, and the edge of the plate B is flush with the end face of the hammer-head, so that when the hammer is placed upon the floor or other support adjacent to the nail, as shown in Fig. 2, and is canted or tipped toward the nail the nail-head will engage with the slanting face and will thereby wedge inward between the gripper and the hammerbody. The gripper grips the nail-head firmly against the hammer-body and holds it in the position shown in Fig. 1, whereby it maybe readily set by striking a blow with the hammer. \Vhen the nail is set, the gripper is re moved from the nail-head bypulling the ham- Iner axially in line with the handle away from the nail, after which the nail may be driven in the ordinary manner.

My invention maybe made of various sizes to adapt it for use on nails of different sizes. It may also be applied to tack-hammers for the purpose of setting tacks, and it is to be distinctly understood that the size of the device is immaterial and a variation thereof will not avoid my claim.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A nail and tack holding and setting hammercomprising a hammer-head provided at its side with a slanting face which slopestoward the eye of the hammer-head a sheet of spring metal having one edge extending over the sloping face and having a slot extending from side of the hammer-head to receive the body of the nail, one end of said plate being fastened to the plain face of the hammer-head at one side of said slanting face and the other end of said plate being held in place by a suitable guide at the other side of said slanting face.

2. In a nail and tack holding and setting hammer, the combination set forth of the body provided upon one side with a slanting face; a spring-metal plate secured upon the side of 1 the hammer-body by means of a pin passing through one end of the plate and into the body and having its other end secured to the body by a stud seated in a slot in the plate and adapted to allow the plate to spring away from the side of the head, the plate being provided with a slot extending over the slanting 

